Classic British Flight Sim

Thought these might be of interest.

Earlier this afternoon the North Wales Air Ambulance made an emergency call to Fairbourne, landing in the field directly opposite my bungalow. At first I assumed it was the usual low flying military traffic until I saw something Messerschmit shaped and red aiming for the field opposite. It had been called to collect a lady who was having severe angina pains and who might have had a job making the over 1hr trip to Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor.



Just after it had arrived and was met by a most unusual sight for round here, a North Wales policeman, and those of us who were intent on rubber-necking



After the patient had been wheeled round to the air ambulance the crew spent some time making her comfortable and once the stretcher had been loaded (and I wonder what an elderly distressed woman would have thought about being loaded into someting that looks like a car boot at the back of the helicopter) the co-pilot moved to stand in front of the helicopter whilst the engines were restarted



Once the helicopter had safely restarted and there were no problems it powered up ready for lift off. Note there is a power line immediately behind the helicopter running across the fields, the landing space is tightly hemmed in by bungalows and the power line so takes some landing in.



Lift off



Amazing flying - whilst the co-pilot leant out of the door looking behind him the helicopter lifted off backwards parallel to the power line and away from the bungalow until safely at a height to be able to turn and fly forward.

I gather that the Air Ambulance has used this field previously for emergency lifts as having good road access where it can meet an ambulance or paramedic. However it's the first time it's happened in the two years I've lived opposite. Although obviously an unfortunate situation for the patient, it was a fascinating event to happen virtually on the doorstep.

One of those landed in the playing fields here in Bridport a couple of years ago and it also shut down so had a good look around and chatted to the pilot for 5 mins or so whilst their patient was loaded up and I remember casually asking about the running costs and his reply still seems expensive now........£14 per minute :o

Ours was a Yellow Bolkow since replaced with another type I understand......probably £20 per minute nowadays.......don't think I want one.

regards


Bridon Bear

I personally find it astonishing that the Wales Air Ambulance is funded by charitable donations, when you consider it takes over an hour from my neck of the coedwig to either of the major hospitals for this area in Aberystwyth or Bangor. If you are well into the "golden hour" when you are rescued another hour plus rattling around in the back of a van isn't going to help, which makes a fast helicopter almost essential. The three Wales air ambulances covering north, central and south Wales cost £2.5million per annum to run, although the Welsh Assembly covers the cost of the paramedics the rest all comes from the Charitable trust.

I happen to think it's £2.5million well spent.

For comparison, I think a Lynx is around £25 per minute, most of which isn't fuel so you're looking at whole life costs, maintenance, crew pay etc.
I'd guess that's probably what the contractor charges for it's use so for your own use it might be a bit cheaper but probably not much!

Well i work with Hems quite a bit....and this makes interesting reading...

http://www.londonsairambulance.com/Secu ... co.uk&D=32

Click on "about us"....then FAQ section...

Anyone work out what £5000 per day is in minutes for me...?



Tony

£3.47

For some reason I know there are 1440 minutes in a day. Blame Excel.

I worked it out to £35 quid an hour Skippy...and if you take it that HEMS only does daylight hours then that equates to £70 quid an hour for daylight flying only....????

Tony

Errr, £5000/24 gives me £208/hour, say £416/hour if your flying 12 hours per day. But I'm guessing the actual usage is probably lower than that.
Now about getting me a go in the MD Explorer....

Hi Guys

Painted that one on the ND Bo105 model (wrong model)



Regards
Rick

I work that one regularly in and out of Glos as it's maintained there.

That £5000 a day is prob based on the average flight hours, but for an idea an AS55 costs approximately £1200 per hour to hire, if not a little more, so I suspect their figures are purely fuel, oil etc.